It has been gray and overcast since I got here a month ago.  Either the smog or the clouds have kept the Alps hidden from view.  But last night we had a long hard rain and today under black clouds the mountains are bright and white.  Sometimes it seems as if they crowd in on us, huge and and higher than Torino's few tall structures, spanning the entire horizon.  It's always a surprise to see them after an absence.  They take up so much space.  

 

a back road church

the mountains after a rain

I took these picture on my way to have lunch with MIL.  I have made it a habit to visit once a week, just we two, for lunch and a chat.  Mitch Albom had Tuesdays with Morrie.  I have Wednesdays with Amalia.  I'm recording the recounting of her life.  GP is little interested in his family's past so I've taken on the role of Story Keeper.  Maybe someday the daughter will be interested.  Maybe someday I'll write it down.  But in the mean time she loves to tell me how she was the winner of the Miss Carignano contest when she was 16 or how she had a bit part in a docu-film made in town.  We eat a little lunch, have an expresso and a chocolate.  It's nice.

Stay well, xxoo me